January 22, 2022 - Pastor Message
November 21, 2024THE HOLY SPIRIT
THE HOLY SPIRIT
“Jesus said, ‘If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you always, the Spirit of truth, which the world cannot accept, because it neither sees nor knows it. But you know it, because it remains with you, and will be in you…The Advocate, the Holy Spirit that the Father will send in my name, he will teach you everything and remind you of all that I told you…When he comes, the Spirit of truth, he will guide you to all truth” (John 14:15-17,25-26; 16:13).
We believe in a Triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. While we tend to have a pretty good grasp of the Father and the Son, we can struggle at times to wrap our heads around the Holy Spirit. Who is the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Holy Trinity, and what role does he play in our salvation? The Holy Spirit is the unseen yet ever-present manifestation of God in the world. When Jesus, the Son of God incarnate, ascended into glory, he breathed his own divine Spirit into the Apostles (John 20:22; Acts 2:1-4). He promised that this Spirit would be with them always and would lead them to all truth, unfolding the mysteries he had revealed in his own life, teachings, and ministry, “until the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20). The Spirit works out God’s saving plan in the lives of people today in and through his Church, the living sign and instrument of the Spirit in the world.
All of this means that, if we wish to be saved, we must listen and respond to the Holy Spirit’s movements within us leading us into the life of God, what we call grace. These movements are sometimes visible or sensible, like the proclamation of God’s Word in Scripture or in the celebration of the sacraments, but often they are not. Whether visible or invisible, they are always interior, perceptible to the eyes and ears of our hearts, minds, and souls, if we cultivate the inner life to perceive them. We call this ongoing effort the discernment of spirits: “Beloved, do not trust every spirit but test the spirits to see whether they belong to God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. This is how you can know the Spirit of God: every spirit that acknowledges Jesus Christ come in the flesh belongs to God, and every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus does not belong to God” (1 John 4:1-3).
The standard for discerning the Spirit then is Jesus and a close, personal relationship with him through prayer, study, and Christian life. Whatever leads us closer to Jesus is of the Holy Spirit, and whatever does not is not. But how do we even sense the mysterious movement of the Spirit in our lives? It may be experienced in different ways, some more perceptible than others, but it generally involves a deep stirring of the heart, mind, and soul - an idea that just won’t go away; an enduring excitement yet inner peace at a certain prospect; a hunger for something beyond the superficial desires and pleasures of this world. It is a feeling that involves but transcends emotion, a sort of resonance in a given situation between our deepest selves and God not identical with but similar to the union of Christ’s humanity and divinity, drawing us into deeper communion with God through his Spirit dwelling within us.
It is hard to describe the movement of the Holy Spirit. Like the best art, it moves us in ways difficult to express in words, but we know in our bones when we experience it. Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love. Send forth your Spirit and we shall be created, and you shall renew the face of the earth. Oh, God, who teach the hearts of your faithful people by sending them the light of your Holy Spirit, grant us by that same Spirit to have a right judgment in all things and evermore rejoice in his holy comfort through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Fr. Marc Stockton
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